Demonstrators protest the Trump administration policy that enables federal agents to separate undocumented migrant children from their parents at the border on June 5, 2018 in Chicago.(Photo11: Scott Olson, Getty Images)

AUSTIN – From El Paso to Abilene to San Angelo, local leaders and immigrant advocates questioned and decried a proposal that would house immigrant children in tent cities across Texas.

The first "soft-sided facilities," as the government calls them, have already been erected in Tornillo, a border town about 40 miles southeast of El Paso, said Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services. About 360 children will be placed in the air-conditioned units in the coming days and more could be added in the future, he said.

However, state Rep. César Blanco said the move is dehumanizing and tarnishes Texas’ tradition of welcoming immigrants. Blanco, along with five other Democratic state lawmakers, sent a letter to the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services this week, calling the idea of tent cities and separating families at the border “abhorrent and possibly illegal.”

“A tent city is not a place for children to be,” said Blanco, who represents El Paso and other stretches of the border. “That’s counter to the values not just of border communities but America in general.”

Overall, the Trump administration is considering using the controversial method to house between 1,000 and 5,000 children at different military bases around Texas. Officials are evaluating Fort Bliss Army base just outside El Paso, Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene and Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo as potential sites.

The influx of unaccompanied minors largely stems from the administration’s new “zero tolerance” policy, which entails charging nearly everyone crossing the border without authorization with a federal misdemeanor. By doing so, under law, children entering the U.S. alongside adults fall under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's care while those criminal cases are pursued.

The agency is responsible for the care of 11,517 migrant children currently being held without a parent or guardian. An existing network of some 100 shelters in 17 states are at 93 percent capacity, Wolfe said.

Genin Rodas, 29, and son is Edison Rodas, 5, from Sab, Honduras, embrace each other they wait for a family member to buy them a bus ticket after being released by U.S. Immigration officials on May 7 at the Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley refugee center in McAllen. Rodas and his son were separated for four days as they were were help in a detention faculty by U.S. Border Patrol.(Photo11: Casey Jackson/Caller-Times)

Backers of the policy say it will help stem the steady flow of illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border.

“Zero tolerance is necessary in this point and time,” said Jessica Vaughan, of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based nonprofit research institute that promotes stricter immigration controls. “It’s clear that the previous policies were not doing the trick to deter illegal entry.”

Critics remember another 'tent city'

But critics have denounced the policy that leads to separation of families as cruel and the prospect of tent cities as inhumane. And it's also reminding advocates of former Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s "Tent City Jail" in Phoenix.

Civil rights advocates denounced Arpaio’s 2,000-bed tent city in South Phoenix as inhumane and humiliating to house inmates in Arizona’s blistering 110-plus heat. His successor, Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone, ordered the facility closed last year as Arpaio faced obstruction of justice charges and multi-million-dollar lawsuits alleging racial profiling of immigrants.

A federal judge found Arpaio guilty of criminal contempt of court but Trump pardoned the high-profile sheriff before his sentencing.

A man checks a bag with his belongings after released by U.S. Immigration officials on May 7 at the Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley refugee center in McAllen.(Photo11: Casey Jackson/Caller-Times)

Christian Ramirez, a San Diego-based border region human rights advocate, said he remembers touring Arpaio’s tent city as an observer and feeling concerned at what he saw: sweltering tents and inmates humiliated by the sheriff’s department.

“That was an extreme I thought I would never see again,” Ramirez said. “And those were adults. The thought that we’re going to potentially put children in these things is just devastating.”

Unaccompanied children trending younger

Melissa Lopez, executive director of the El-Paso-based Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services, which offers legal screenings for unaccompanied minors, said her office has noticed a disturbing trend since the “zero tolerance” policy launched: younger children held in federal custody.

Whereas unaccompanied minors who arrive at the border by themselves tend to be between 13 and 16 years old, minors separated at the border from their parents are often younger than 10, she said. The children are often confused as to why they were taken from their parents and desperate to reunite with them, Lopez said.

“The younger they are, the more difficulty they’ll have being detained and dealing with all that comes with detention,” she said.

It's not the first time the government used U.S. military bases to house migrant children. In 2016, to accommodate a surge of unaccompanied minors, around 500 children were temporarily held at Fort Bliss’ Dona Ana Range Complex, near Chaparral, New Mexico.

Pedro Ismael Cruz, 31, kisses his son Pedro Emanuel Cruz Chirinoz, 3, as they wait for a family member to buy them a bus ticket after being released by U.S. Immigration officials on May 7 at the Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley refugee center in McAllen.(Photo11: Casey Jackson/Caller-Times)

But they came over the border unaccompanied, were not separated from parents, tended to be older and were held in permanent structures.

U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, a Republican who represents the area around Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, said he understood the administration needs to enforce immigration laws but questioned holding the minors on military bases.

“I am not convinced at this point that housing them in our military installations is the best short-term answer, especially if it harms regular base operations, crowds our servicemembers and distracts from the mission of defense,” he said.

Families sleep on padded mats after being released by U.S. Immigration officials at the Catholic Charities Rio Grand Valley refugee center in McAllen.(Photo11: Casey Jackson/Caller-Times)

Blanco attended missile gunnery school at Fort Bliss while in the Navy and said housing immigrant youth in tents there would imperil the good relationship that part of Texas has enjoyed with Mexico for generations. He also pointed to Arpaio’s fall from grace and ultimate conviction as a lesson for the Trump administration.

“Typically, this story has a negative ending for those who treat immigrants and treat children in this matter,” Blanco said.